All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

Hi BP Community,

Hoping someone can help me. I tried usps but there's no clear option to choose for this. I have a legal 4 family unit. There are only 3 mailboxes. the 4th unit is a basement unit but i've confirmed with the town and the state that my building is a legal 4. How would i go about adding a 4th mailbox? 

The current 3 mailboxes are set up in the entrance area recessed into the wall and protruding into my first floor unit's closet. The basement has a separate entrance. Preferably, i wouldn't replace the existing 3 mailboxes, and i'd just add another mailbox by the basement entrance. 

Anyone know what steps I need to take to do this? If i get a mailbox without a lock, can i just leave a note at my other mailboxes asking the mailman to please drop off the basement unit's mail at the basement unit entrance?

thanks!

Hello BP Community,

I'm currently looking at refinancing out of a VA Loan. My loan is only 2.5 years old and I have a great rate on it. My reason for doing this is primarily to get out of the va loan so that I can use it again in the future. I could never afford 20% down on a multi fam and dont want to pay mortgage insurance either. I can pay the 5% dp to reduce the funding fee from 3.3 to 1.6. Also, property values in my neighborhood have gone up so much that I have some confidence that I could meet the 75% ltv ratio on a refinance. And, with rates the way they are, i think this is my best opportunity to make this move.

I do have some concerns, even though rates are great right now, i'd have to pay a full point to meet my current rate, although i'm also interested in paying more than that to reduce my current rate. Only because i figure since i'm doing this, I may as well get a better rate. I wouldn't want to refi again in the future. I know that my savings on .125 would take forever to re-coup vs the points that i'd pay. However, i'm doing the math against the mortgage insurance and the higher rate i'd get if I didn't use a va loan on my next property. Any thoughts on this perspective?

Also, i've had a few lenders tell me that there's no point to get out of my va loan. I might as well save on closing costs and points and the reset of my interest payments and just go conventional or FHA for my next property. although, again, the numbers as far as not getting the best va rate, downpayment, and mortgage insurance just doesn't make sense to me. Am i missing something?

about to pull the trigger but just looking for some thoughts in case there's anything i hadn't thought of.

Thanks all

@Sweta P. @Tyler Hodgson - i'm in new jersey. thanks!

@Megan King thank you!

Hi BP Community,

Wondering if anyone has any insight on this. I used United Wholesale Mortgage for my first home, a multifam. Incredible rates and low fees. For my 2nd property, my previous broker stopped using them. I found another broker who did and got the best rates again. Now, i'm looking to refinance my first home and my 2nd broker doesn't use UWM either. I've called a number of brokers and they dont use UWM either. I called UWM to see if they could connect me to a broker that uses them and they couldn't help. I want their rates but is something fishy going on behind the scenes? 

I'm just starting out and have had a ton of issues so while even reading this post, I felt like the post was addressing me. While I did read BP and internet articles and vetted inspectors and realtors, i did not go to school for this nor read textbooks and study real estate for years. I do think there's some gray area between enough and paralysis by analysis. Had i known all the things that were going to break and read more posts like this one, i might have had my confidence shaken and not proceeded. But I've learned a lot in my few years of experience and i'm glad that i did shoot from the hip a bit because of my growth and the growth still to come. 

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/311/topics/785448-short-on-money-for-fha-downpayment 

As others have said and no offense, and maybe i missed something but if you dont have $7k in personal savings to cover just the down payment, you're just not ready yet. There are closing costs that can't be paid from seller concessions, you have to pay for inspections out of pocket and around NJ, you should pay for an oil tank inspection as well. Also, read this post and the comments on it, you should plan for and expect numerous problems you're first year especially as it sounds like you'd be a first time homeowner.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/784938-all-my-cashflow-to-repairs-and-maintenance-this-year

On the more helpful/less criticizing end, I dont have a FHA loan. From my experience, if you have good credit, there are bank loans that allow for just a 5% DP and the mortage insurance is cheaper than that of the FHA. However, if you do get help from friends/family or another lender, keep in mind that you'd have to get the loan/help and then have the cash sit around for at least 3 months before you apply for a loan. The lender will want your statement history and if they see that you went from sub $7k for some time and then got one fat abnormal deposit, they will ask about it and where it came from and deny the loan.

Hi BP Community,

I'm looking for some advice, guidance, words of encouragement, or words that'll set me straight. 

I bought a multifamily just under 2 years ago in hudson county, NJ. The house is 100 years old. We were from Queens and were expecting and everything was just cheaper on this side of the river, including daycare, by a lot. Our house is a 4 family. We live on the 1st floor, the 2nd floor is legally split into 2 different units, and a basement. We looked at maybe 20 houses in the area and surrounding neighborhoods, many of them were not in great shape for our price range. This one had live-in owners and at the time, looked like it was well taken care of. Since we got it, the furnace caught fire and needed replacement, we've had our bathroom leak into the basement, a 2nd floor bathroom leak into our unit, roach problems that we still can't get rid of after using 3 different companies, other plumbing issues, and electrical issues as well. Now, our basement tenant just sent us a picture of their living room wall which is completely water damaged. The other side of the wall is their shower so I'm waiting on a contractor to come tell me what the problem is.

Last year, we had some money saved up and wanted to invest in more property but due to our experience in our house, we decided it may be easier to get a condo instead. So we did. And since then, we've had our bathtub plumbing leak into the floor below, we've had to replace the toilet because water was coming up after flushing, and now we're having kitchen plumbing issues as well.

I don't know if it's just the area, or if i'm just making bad choices when i review these properties. but after 2 years, we haven't made any money since we're spending significantly more than the rent brings in to fix all these problems. Wife and I are getting really sick of all of the issues, we've throw around the idea of selling everything at a severe loss and moving in with her parents. 

Does anyone else have these experiences where it just seems that the issues never stop? Any advice to give?